As I stated earlier I know nothing about
PR but I would perhaps have thought a decent
PR team would be able to generate some sort of publicity in the right circles, irrespective of the news agenda? Surely, local news in Birmingham and Belfast would still pick up on an airline launch / relaunch even if tanks are rolling into Kiev?
I think the delay of announcing is probably more to do with other issues alluded to on here rather than the news cycle being quite busy.